Rugby
KweséESPN staff 6y

Blitzboks denied medal as NZ win gold at Commonwealth Games

New Zealand won gold in the Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens tournament but the major surprise was that South Africa didn't medal at all.

England beat the Blitzboks 21-14 at Robina Stadium to secure the bronze medal after coming back from 14-0 down at halftime to do so.

For South Africa it is a major disappointment after winning gold at the 2014 Games in Glasgow, finishing top of Pool A in Gold Coast and specifically separating their squad for this tournament and the Hong Kong Sevens a week ago.

South Africa opened the scoring in the first minute of the bronze medal match with Branco du Preez showing fantastic handling skills to pick up a loose pass and saunter over for a converted try.

Neil Powell's charges then added a second converted try on the stroke of half-time with Ruhan Nel the scorer to give the Blitzboks a 14-0 lead at the break.

England did exactly what they needed to in the second half by scoring first after Philip Burgess collected a knock down from the kick-off to go over unopposed and make the score 14-7.

They then tied up the match at 14-all when the Blitzboks fluffed a lineout on their own line, allowing Burgess to collect and crash over.

England held on to the momentum and then grabbed the lead a minute later with Tom Mitchell scampering away from the South African defence for another converted score and a 21-14 lead which they held onto to full-time.

It amounted to two disappoint results in a row, after a stirring second-half comeback was not enough for the Blitzboks when they lost 19-24, after extra-time, to Fiji in their semifinal clash.

Earlier, the South African women's team finished their competition -- also won by New Zealand -- in 8th place after narrowly losing to Wales, 19-14.

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